Powder Blue Report

Friday, February 23, 2007

HILLARY/OBAMA CAT FIGHT

"Everybody in politics lies, but they (the Clintons) do it with such ease, it’s troubling." "Hillary is overproduced & overscripted." David Geffen in the NY Times

When Slick Willie did his thing with Monica in the Oval Office, Hillary accused Republicans of a VAST RIGHT-WING CONSPIRACY. After he lied to the American people about it and finally admitted it, Hillary never apologized for her comment. However, she thinks Obama should apologize for Geffen’s "vicious attacks." Geffen used to be a big Clinton supporter and fundraiser. He had a falling out with them over the Marc Rich pardon. Clinton stooge Terri McAuliffe is trying to scare Hollywood into supporting Hillary by telling them "Your either with us or against us." Hillary’s support must be pretty shallow if she is having trouble getting Dems to support her over a media generated empty suit rookie like Obama with no legislative record to speak of. Even Barbra Streisand is donating to both instead of just backing a woman. George Soros is backing Obama. Hillary has tried to appeal to women by making them think they would be empowered by having a woman president. Having Obama & Edwards running against her is a big advantage for Hillary. It gives her someone to beat. Since their views on the Iraq War are extremely liberal, Hillary can trick people into thinking she is really a moderate instead of a liberal. This puts her in a better relative position for the general election.

This is kind of like one of those SAT questions of...which one doesn't doesn't fit in here?

If you guessed David Geffen you would be correct. He unloaded on Hill and Bubba today. It is one of the finer political crackbacks I have ever seen. Que the mike for Mr. Michael Buffer.....Let's get ready to rumblllllllllle!

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Judge Kline Is Finally Going To Prison

I think most people in OC have been following this story ever since it broke. Judge Ronald Kline of Irvine(he's my neighbor here in Turtle Rock a few blocks away....yuk!)made headlines because of the thousands of child porn images that were found on his computer. He was finally sentenced today up in Los Angeles. Upon hearing that he would have to serve 27 months in prison, Judge Kline promptly passed out. He must have fainted from knowing he will be around all those "hot" young inmates that he will be able to drop the soap around. Here's to hoping you have a great time in the hole Judge. I think this also makes him qualified to be on the Democrat majority public saftey committe up in Sacramento when he gets out. They love going easy on pedophiles. Here's the story.

Friday, February 16, 2007

Another Bank Of America Update

You gotta love photoshop. I've been noticing quite a few page views from B of A's corporate office in North Carolina as well as many Google "illegal alien bank of america" searches on my Sitemeter. You don't think these guys are getting worried do you? The backlash is just getting started. I noted the OC Register's editorial this morning defending B of A's right to issue the cards to illegal aliens. I fired off a letter to the editor in opposition. Here it is:

I strongly disagree with the Register's editorial on the issue of credit cards for illegal aliens. I believe Bank of America is harming California and the nation by issuing credit cards & other services to illegal aliens. They are encouraging more illegal immigration by having this policy. California has born the brunt of the illegal immigration invasion. We don't need companies adding fuel to the fire to incentivize more bad behavior. The libertarian in me agrees with the banks right to issue these cards, but I'm also free not to do business with a company like B of A and I encourage all others that are currently doing business with the bank to close all their accounts if they don't change this policy.

California Education Turns A Corner....Off the Cliff!

It's nice to know that all the spending we do on education here in California is having an impact...NOT. Educrats in Sacramento keep telling us all is well and getting better a la the band playing on the sinking ship Titanic. The reality is 180 degrees from their rosy scenario. The bottomline is that students are just not learning in California. Anyone who trys to spin otherwise is kidding themself.

Lance Izumi, the Director of Education Studies at the Pacific Reasearch Institute has just issued a scathing report on the state of education in California. It's mostly Fs and Ds. Here's link to the report.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Global Warming Meeting Canceled Because Of....Snow & Ice!

No really...you can't make this stuff up. There was a hearing scheduled for today back in DC on global warming but because of the big snow storm back there they had to cancel it. What a hoot. This is perfect for one of Jay Leno's Headlines segments.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Bank of America Illegal Alien Credit Card Update

...except for illegal aliensI just spoke to a representative of Bank of America about their ridiculous new illegal alien credit card policy. There was nothing this poor guy could say to appease me. He said "a lot" of people have been calling today threatening to close their accounts and/or move their business to another bank. GOOD. He ended up giving me a snail mail address and a fax# to send a letter to. I don't know if this will have any impact, but all I know is that I'm not doing business with a company that not only is blatantly disregarding federal law, but also affecting the quality of life here in socal. Maybe someone could try to walk into a branch without any kind of ID and try to get one these credit cards. Heck, we should just burn out SS cards & drivers licenses. It's becoming obvious there is no need for them anymore. Here is a great comment thread from a USA Today article this morning, specifically:

All of you Bank of America customers call the number on the back of your ATM cards and push ZERO to speak to a customer service representative. Then ask to fill out a voice of the customer form. The representative will enter your comments and it will get mailed to the quality assurance & customer satisfaction department. The bank takes these forms very seriously. Lodge your complaint and make your voice ring loud and proud to Bank of America President Ken Lewis.

I believe this address is for California customers only, but I'm not sure. Here it is:

A Sign Of The Times

So I read today that one of the places where I bank at, B of A, has decided to give illegal aliens credit cards. The hits just keep on coming. It's all about the almighty dollar. I guess all those "Fernando Valenzuela" IDs are working like a charm on B of A. One question though, I thought banks had to "know their customers" because of all the new anti-terror post 9/11 laws? This begs another question...how can B of A know their customer when the customer doesn't have a valid US ID? And what about social security numbers? I guess all this is getting swept under the rug so B of A can collect billions more in credit card interest from illegal aliens. On the other hand, it has become the "American Way" to go into deep credit card debt so maybe these illegals are really starting to assimilate. Nothing surprises me anymore about this issue. I am going to write a letter to B of A's CEO expressing my displeasure with this new policy. If nothing is changed, I think that B of A customers should take their business elsewhere.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Monday Morning Quarterback

I made a lot of interesting observations this weekend at the CRP convention. One thing about Republicans, we know how to throw a good party. I always look forward to these bi-annual conventions. I remember when I first started attending these gatherings back in my college days. The goal back then was to hang out with my buddies and drink as much free alcohol as possible. It was always an easily obtainable goal with all the candidate/issue hospitality suites. These days I find myself heading to the conventions to network my business and hold our elected representatives feet to the fire.

I had a chance to speak one on one with State Senator & former Lt. Gov. candidate Tom McClintock for a few minutes about his new political organization, Citizens for the California Republic. I'm also happy that my Assemblyman Chuck DeVore is going to be on the Board of Directors. Tom doesn't want conservatives to abandon the fight here in California. He's modeled this new group after the one formed by Ronald Reagan after Jerry Brown was elected back in the 70s. I believe as Tom believes that California is a ticking financial time bomb right now. There's evidence pointing to declining revenues already. You combine this with a robust recession and you have yourselves a recipe for fiscal disaster. When this happens, the first thing the legislators will do is try to raise taxes. We would like to put in place an initiative that would require any tax increase to be authorized by the California electorate before any taxes are raised.

In talking with my Congressman John Campbell's District Director Lou Penrose, I found out that the Congressman is indeed a co-sponsor of a bill in Congress to pardon Border Patrol Agents Jose Compean & Ignacio Ramos. This makes me very happy. Keep up the good work Congressman. Even one of our US Senators, DIFi, wants an investigation into this messy issue. I have no hope at all for Barbara Boxer to care about this issue.

There were some great YAF flyers handed out as usual. The best was some fake money with Duf Sundheim's picture on the notes reading "In Duf We Trusted" and "This note is a $4.6 million dollar debt". Another was California Republicans writing an open letter to Hillary Clinton apologizing for Arnold stealing her idea for universal healthcare. There was also a fake marriage certificate handed out lampooning Rudy Guliani's support for gay marriage. I think they had the names "Adam & Steve" on it. Can't quite remember. It was funny though. I hope someone scans them and posts em' somewhere.

In the area of potential future candidates, my good friend Phil Paule introduced me to Riverside County GOP Chairman Jeff Miller. Jeff is thinking about a run for the soon to be open 71st AD. 40% or so of the district is in Riverside County. If Jeff can get his homebase GOP voters out to the polls, I think he has the inside track to the GOP nomination. He'a also been endorsed by the CRA which is always a good thing. One request Jeff....if you get elected, can you pass a law outlawing cow manure stink out there in Norco/Corona, LOL. The smell out there sometimes is unbearable. My mother and sister would also appreciate it since they just moved out there recently.

I ran into Mike & Susan Schroeder at the Sacramento Airport while waiting for our flight back to JWA. I had never met them in person before and found them to be very down to earth, unlike what some people try to make them out to be on the local blogs. We joked about our passions for rival LA higher education institutions. He's an SC homer and of course I root for the better school UCLA, LOL.

Lastly, I had a chance to talk to Diane Harkey for a few minutes while waiting for our bags to come off the carosel at JWA. She seemed really excited about her upcoming run for Assembly down in South County. I'm glad she has decided to run again for office. She came so close to being our State Senator. She'll be using the same campaign consultants as before...Gilliard for mail, Adam Probolsky for polling, and Scott Hart for her ground game. I think she'll be a shoe-in unless Cassie DeYoung decides to jump in the race. No one knows at this point what Cassie will do. My advice is for her to save her money. In fact, memo to Cassie: if you're really feeling like making yourself a few million dollars poorer, just give me a call and I can try to talk you out of it. In fact I can probably help you add to your wealth instead of enriching Forde & Molrich.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Thoughts On Rudy Giuliani

I just sat through a great lunch speech by former Mayor Of NYC, Rudy Giuliani up here here in Sacramento. He did not close the sale on me though. I think out of all the main contenders for GOP Presidential nomination, he probably has the inside track at this point. We shall see. His positions on immigration(he's pro amnesty) and abortion(pro choice)though are going to be big obstacles in his way, not to mention he also wants to keep the status quo in Iraq. Memo to Rudy: Californians want action in enforcing our immigration laws, not rhetoric. This is ironic because in his lunch speech, the Mayor was talking about how the Congress has been debating non-binding resolutions with no meaning. His point was that leaders don't have the luxury of debating non binding resolutions. Decisions need to be made. I agree with that, but if the decision is to give amnesty to all the law breakers then I can never support a politician like that and neither will Californians.

Yours Truly In The News This Morning

So after Arnold's speech last night, I ended up speaking to a few reporters about my thoughts of Arnold's speech and his newly minted liberal democratic leanings. I spoke with Kate Folmar from the San Jose Mercury News. She was telling me that most delegates that she was trying to get a quote from did not want to "go on the record" expressing their displeasure with Arnold. I on the other hand have no such reservations and the quotes from me came fast and furious. If you want to read what I said, click here.

Friday, February 09, 2007

Live At The CRP

I'm here sitting in the ballroom of the Hyatt Regency Sacramento. Arnold has just delivered his keynote speech. All I can say is that I and a lot of other convention goers were extremely underwhelmed by it. In fact I would say you could cut the tension in the room with a knife. Arnold was introduced to very tepid applause. Normally when a governor of your party is introduced, it is pretty raucus. I would characterize the applause as respect for the office applause and that's about it. Just like his state of the state speech, there was no mention of the number one issue on Californians minds...ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. This was a very businesslike speech. I don't think Arnold wanted to be here tonight. So that's my Arnold update. I really don't want to talk about him anymore.

I already have some interesting stories from today. One of weirdest is when I was walking through the lobby bar at about 5pm. I was wearing a Tom Bordonaro sticker and happened to walk by a crotchity old lady supporting Tom Del Baccaro. She needled me on my lapel and said something like..."Bordonaro is a mean dirty man. How can you support a guy like that?" Nice to meet you to maam. Go back to that bottle of JD you were drinking.

I had a chance to meet Supervisor elect Trung Nguyen. I wished him well in his new endeavor as an OC Supervisor. There's just that pesky business of a recount demanded by Janet Nguyen. In fairness, the margin is so close that a review of the ballots won't hurt anyone IMO. I think Trung is still in good shape.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Dana Rohrabacher Uses The "I" Word About President Bush

I was kinda stunned tonight after hearing Dana Rohrabacher call for "some impeachment talk" against President Bush if Border Patrol Agents Ramos or Compean get murdered in prison. I don't know if I would use those words yet, but the complicity from President Bush regarding this case is pretty breathtaking considering the recent revelations of this case.

Homeland Security IG Lied To Congress About Ramos & Compean

This has my blood boiling today. In a hearing before a Congressional subcommittee, The Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security Richard Skinner told the Committee that he and his staffers LIED when they contended they possessed investigative reports proving Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean confessed guilt and declared they "wanted to shoot some Mexicans" prior to the incident that led to their imprisonment. They lied to cover up this travesty of justice. Mr. Skinner should be immediately fired. This story is getting uglier by the day. It's time for a pardon President Bush. Do the right thing.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Oh Yeah, There's An OC Special Election Tonight

I have taken a well needed break from political activity since the November elections. Thank God this special election for the 1st District Supervisor's seat wasn't in my area of the county. We've had enough special elections to last for a long time here the last few years. Anyways, tonights race is a fascinating look into the changing demographics of the county. You have two Vietnamese candidates in Trung & Janet Nguyen fighting it out for the Little Siagon vote. You have the old school white liberal Democrat in Tom Umberg. You have Carlos Bustamante trying to woo the hispanic vote and a few other fringe candidates that round out the list. The four I just mentioned will probably finish in the top four. There's evidence showing a good turnout in the Vietnamese community, but I think both candidates vying for those votes are going to split them. I don't think Carlos can overcome hispanic voter apathy nor compete for much of the Vietnamese vote. Carlos comes in fourth place IMO. The two Nguyens are canceling each other out and will finish in second(Janet) and thrid place(Trung). This leaves Tom Umberg as I originally predicted taking this seat and keeping it in the Democrat column. The fun(results) will begin shortly. Here's the link for the results below.

Trung & Janet Nguyen neck & neck in first & second place. Umberg in third & Carlos in fourth. The fat lady has sung Carlos. The question is...will this lead be enough to overcome the democratic precinct votes from Santa Ana. We saw this with the Daucher/Correa State Senate seat. A Republican took a big early lead in absentees only to have the lead withered down day by day as the count wore on. I get the hunch though that this race is now between the two Nguyens.

Billions given away in Baghdad free-for-all

I wrote yesterday about how we've blown over $400 billion dollars in Iraq so far with no relief in sight for the taxpayers. Info is coming out now about how some of that $$$ was spent in Iraq. It turns out the man in charge from 2003 to 2004, Paul Bremer, made pork like "the bridge to nowhere" in Alaska look like petty cash. I'm no fan of Henry Waxman, but I'm glad Congress is finally starting to take a look at how some of this money was blown. It's not pretty. I love this quote from the article...

“Who in their right minds would send 360 tonnes of cash into a war zone? But that’s exactly what [this government] did.”

A Couple Of Birthdays Today

First I want to wish my mother Cher Bartlett a very happy birthday. She's lucky that she shares the same birthday as our greatest modern President, Ronald Reagan. Happy birthday Mr. President. Last , but certainly not least, a very happy birthday to Lynn's mom Theresa Pranke. Both of our mothers share the same birthday with the greatest President. We're really lucky to have them both. Happy birthday mom(s).

Monday, February 05, 2007

WSJ: Economy Great Despite War

There was a hilarious article today in the Wall Street Journal about how the War in Iraq hasn't affected our economy. I can't link to it because you need to be a subscriber to view it. The article posits that the the $400 billion or so dollars that we've thrown down a black hole isn't causing inflation and that the economy is humming on all cylinders. The next thing they're gonna tell us is that Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are real. Riiiight. I'm sure revving up the printing presses and blowing $400 billion that we can't afford won't have any effect on the dollar or our economy. They should have reprinted this speech by Rep Ron Paul to give their readers a better understanding of what is happening:

Mr. Speaker, Saddam Hussein is Dead. So are Three Thousand Americans.

The regime in Iraq has been changed. Yet victory will not be declared: not only does the war go on, it’s about to escalate. Obviously the turmoil in Iraq is worse than ever, and most Americans no longer are willing to tolerate the costs, both human and economic, associated with this war.

We have been in Iraq for 45 months. Many more Americans have been killed in Iraq than were killed in the first 45 months of our war in Vietnam. I was in the U.S. Air Force in 1965, and I remember well when President Johnson announced a troop surge in Vietnam to hasten victory. That war went on for another decade, and by the time we finally got out 60,000 Americans had died. God knows we should have gotten out ten years earlier. “Troop surge” meant serious escalation.

The election is over and Americans have spoken. Enough is enough! They want the war ended and our troops brought home. But the opposite likely will occur, with bipartisan support. Up to 50,000 more troops will be sent. The goal no longer is to win, but simply to secure Baghdad! So much has been spent with so little to show for it.

Who possibly benefits from escalating chaos in Iraq? Neoconservatives unabashedly have written about how chaos presents opportunities for promoting their goals. Certainly Osama bin Laden has benefited from the turmoil in Iraq, as have the Iranian Shiites who now are better positioned to take control of southern Iraq.

Yes, Saddam Hussein is dead, and only the Sunnis mourn. The Shiites and Kurds celebrate his death, as do the Iranians and especially bin Laden – all enemies of Saddam Hussein. We have performed a tremendous service for both bin Laden and Ahmadinejad, and it will cost us plenty. The violent reaction to our complicity in the execution of Saddam Hussein is yet to come.

Three thousand American military personnel are dead, more than 22,000 are wounded, and tens of thousands will be psychologically traumatized by their tours of duty in Iraq. Little concern is given to the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians killed in this war. We’ve spent $400 billion so far, with no end in sight.

This is money we don’t have. It is all borrowed from countries like China, that increasingly succeed in the global economy while we drain wealth from our citizens through heavy taxation and insidious inflation. Our manufacturing base is now nearly extinct.

Where the additional U.S. troops in Iraq will come from is anybody’s guess. But surely they won’t be redeployed from Japan, Korea, or Europe. We at least must pretend that our bankrupt empire is intact. But then again, the Soviet empire appeared intact in 1988.

Some Members of Congress, intent on equitably distributing the suffering among all Americans, want to bring back the draft. Administration officials vehemently deny making any concrete plans for a draft. But why should we believe this? Look what happened when so many believed the reasons given for our preemptive invasion of Iraq.

Selective Service officials admit running a check of their lists of available young men. If the draft is reinstated, we probably will include young women as well to serve the god of “equality.” Conscription is slavery, plain and simple. And it was made illegal under the 13th amendment, which prohibits involuntary servitude. One may well be killed as a military draftee, which makes conscription a very dangerous kind of enslavement.

Instead of testing the efficacy of the Selective Service System and sending more troops off to a war we’re losing, we ought to revive our love of liberty. We should repeal the Selective Service Act. A free society should never depend on compulsory conscription to defend itself.

We get into trouble by not following the precepts of liberty or obeying the rule of law. Preemptive, undeclared wars fought under false pretenses are a road to disaster. If a full declaration of war by Congress had been demanded as the Constitution requires, this war never would have been fought. If we did not create credit out of thin air as the Constitution prohibits, we never would have convinced taxpayers to support this war directly from their pockets. How long this financial charade can go on is difficult to judge, but when the end comes it will not go unnoticed by any American.

This is all the more reason to position your assets and wealth in hard assets such as precious metals and companies that produce them. If the fed wants to cut interetst rates and jack up inflation even more, go right ahead. Me and my clients will laugh all the way to the bank.

The Rich Get Richer

No, I'm not talking about wealthy people per se, but I'm talking about my beloved UCLA Bruins snagging prized recruit Kevin Love of Lake Oswego HS in Oregon. The Bruin basketball team has thrived under the great leadership of Coach Ben Howland. Now they get to add Kevin Love next year at the "5" position. Kevin Love's Lake Oswego Lakers were actually in town over the weekend to play in the Nike Extravaganza over at my alma mater Mater Dei's new gymnasium. I got a chance to watch the reply last night on Fox Sports of Saturday's game. Love's Lakers beat Mater Dei in their own gym! Kevin had 36 points by himself alone. This guy is the next coming of Bill Walton. His skills for a big man are simply incredible. He has all the scouts salivating. I just hope he sticks around longer than one year at UCLA.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Murder In My Neighborhood

The other day a landscape contractor was murdered in a neighborhood right next door to where I live in Turtle Rock. It happened in a new neighborhood called Turtle Ridge. We don't have all the facts yet of the murder, but it would appear that Woo Sung Park, the contractor, was killed by one of the day laborers he picked up earlier in Santa Ana. Now call me crazy, I know I'm taking a shot in the dark here, but I'll guess just maybe, just maybe the alledged killer, Ernesto Hernando Avalos is an illegal alien. I know, I know...this assumption is quite a leap being that Mr. Park went to Santa Ana to pick Mr Avalos & others up for the day in Santa Ana and also the fact that Mr. Park owns a landscape business. We know that this is not a typical profile of an illegal alien in Southern California, but I digress. Man I'm just such a racist for even thinking this aren't I? Here's a link to the story.